1. ADA Compliance
& Website
Accessibility
© SilverTech, Inc. 2018

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3. P R E S E N T I N G
UI/UX DESIGNER
Raphaëlle Vrana
Raphaelle Vrana is a UI/UX Designer with over four years of
experience exploring and applying accessibility standards in
design and development.
VICE PRESIDENT, GENERAL COUNSEL
Paul Creme
With over 30 years of experience practicing law, Paul
utilizes his extensive legal knowledge as SilverTech’s
Vice President, General Counsel. With a primary focus
on business and corporate matters
SILVERTECH’S EXPERTS

4. 1. A Brief History of the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA)
2. The ADA, Website Accessibility, and
Lessons from Recent Cases
3. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
& Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
(WCAG)
4. Q&A
Agenda

5. A Brief History of the
Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA)
© SilverTech, Inc. 2018
01

6. The Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA)
1990
The ADA gives civil rights protections to
individuals with disabilities similar to those
provided to individuals on the basis of race,
color, sex, national origin, age, and religion.
2018
The Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act
(ADAAA) was signed into law and became effective
on January 1, 2009. The ADAAA made a number of
significant changes to the definition of “disability.”
The DOJ to issue
regulations regarding
website accessibility
2008

7. The ADA Amendments Act
Final Rule
2016
To add further clarity, the US Attorney General signed the
ADA Amendments Act Final Rule on July 15, 2016 with an
effective date of October 11, 2016.
● The definition of "disability" should be interpreted broadly.
● Major life activities now include the operation of major bodily functions,
such as functions of the neurological, digestive, or respiratory
systems.
● Due to uncertainty about the meaning of "physical and mental
impairments," the term is now illustrated with the additional examples
of dyslexia and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

8. KEY TAKEAWAY
“The person making a claim may not
have to carry as heavy a burden to
prove their claim.”

9. Who Does The ADA Apply to?
Equal Employment Opportunity for Individuals with Disabilities
● Private employers with 15 or more employeesTitle I
Title II
Title III
Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability in State and Local
Government Services
● Public entities at state and local levels which includes both
physical and programmatic access to all programs and services
offered
Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability by Public Accommodations
and in Commercial Facilities
● Businesses operating for the benefit of the public and non-profits

10. The ADA, Website
Accessibility, & Lessons
from Recent Cases
© SilverTech, Inc. 2018
02

11. The ADA and Website
Accessibility
Statement from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)
● The ADA's expansive nondiscrimination mandate reaches the goods
and services provided by public accommodations using Internet web
sites.
● Beyond goods and services, information available on the Internet has
become a gateway to education, socializing, and entertainment
2015
Official guidance from the DOJ regarding website accessibility was due in
2016, but was delayed to focus on public websites covered under Title II.

12. Section 508 Amendment to the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973
● Section 508 was enacted to eliminate barriers in information
technology, to make available new opportunities for people with
disabilities, and to encourage development of technologies that will
help achieve these goals.
● There is nothing in section 508 that requires private websites to
comply unless they are receiving federal funds
● Commercial best practices include voluntary standards and guidelines
such as the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) Web Accessibility
Initiative (WAI).
Guidance is due in 2018 for private websites covered under Title III. In the meantime,
website ADA compliance is being enforced on a case-by-case basis.

13. KEY TAKEAWAY
“It is a certainty that at some point you
may want to make your website
ADA compliant.”

14. National Federation of the
Blind v. Target Corporation
● Target argued that the website was not a place of public
accommodation
● "It is clear that the purpose of the statute is broader than mere
physical access—seeking to bar actions or omissions which impair a
disabled person's 'full enjoyment' of services or goods of a covered
accommodation."
Key Takeaway: a website may be considered a place of public accommodation

15. National Ass’n of Deaf v.
Netflix (2012)
● Netflix's "Watch Instantly" website was a public accommodation
subject to the ADA even though Netflix has no physical place of public
accommodation.
● "The ADA covers the services 'of' a public accommodation, not
services 'at' or 'in' a public accommodation"
● The Netflix website may fit within at least one (if not more) of the
categories listed in the ADA.
Key Takeaway: you may not need to have a physical location to be considered
covered by the ADA

16. The DOJ-Peapod.com
Settlement
● Settlement shows that the DOJ is looking closely at the accessibility of
websites and mobile apps and remains aggressive in its enforcement
efforts.
● At a minimum, the DOJ may require companies to comply with WCAG
2.0 Level AA standards.
Key Takeaway: the DOJ is not just looking at websites, but mobile applications
and other online points of access. The DOJ may view AA guidelines as the
appropriate standard.

17. Access Now, Inc.
v Blue Apron
● Affirmation that Title III which proscribes disability-based
discrimination that prevents “the full and equal enjoyment of the
goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodation
of any place of public accommodation…”
● Plaintiffs allege that Blue Apron “violates Title III by not making its
website sufficiently accessible to blind and visually-impaired
consumers.
● Website is not compatible with screen readers…is “largely unusable
due to various accessibility barriers.”
Key Takeaway: Under First Circuit precedent…Blue Apron’s website is a
“public accommodation.”

18. KEY TAKEAWAY
“These recent cases may only be the
beginning of the explosion of website
accessibility cases.”

19. The World Wide Web
Consortium(W3C) & the
Web Content Accessibility
Guidelines (WCAG)
© SilverTech, Inc. 2018
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20. 1994
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) was
founded in 1994 by Tim Berners-Lee, often
credited as one of the founders of the World
Wide Web.
2008
The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) and the World
Wide Web Consortium (W3C) created the Web
Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
Standards updated in WCAG
2.0, which has become an ISO
International Standard for the
web.
1999
“Leading the Web to its
Full Potential.”

21. WCAG 2.0 Principles of
Accessibility - POUR
Perceivable
Information and user interface components must be presentable
to users in ways they can perceive (e.g. alt tags that say what the
item actually does, like ‘Submit form Button’).
● Provide text alternatives for non-text content
● Provide captions and other alternatives for multimedia
● Create content that can be presented in different ways
● Including assistive technologies, without losing meaning
● Make it easier for users to see and hear content

22. WCAG 2.0 Principles of
Accessibility - POUR
Operable
User interface components and navigation must be operable (e.g.,
you must be able to navigate the site using a keyboard as well as
a mouse).
● Make all functionality available from a keyboard
● Give users enough time to read and use content
● Do not use content that causes seizures
● Help users navigate and find content

23. WCAG 2.0 Principles of
Accessibility - POUR
Understandable
Information and the operation of user interface must be
understandable, (e.g. error messaging on a form should make
sense; instead of ‘Invalid field’ messaging, use ‘The Email field
must be in a valid format’).
● Make text readable and understandable
● Make content appear and operate in predictable ways
● Help users avoid and correct mistakes

24. WCAG 2.0 Principles of
Accessibility - POUR
Robust
Content must be robust enough so it can be interpreted reliably by
a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies. In
other words, don’t use tags or code that only certain browsers
understand.
● Maximize compatibility with current and future user tools.

25. WCAG 2.0 Guidelines Levels
A, AA, AAA
● These guidelines are organized into three levels (A, AA, AAA) with
similar types of accessibility features addressed in each, but AA
having more, and AAA having most criteria to meet that level of
accessibility standard.
● For most organizations, the objective is to satisfy Level AA guidelines,
however, some government agencies and nonprofits who serve a
larger impaired audience, may work toward satisfying the majority of
Level AAA guidelines (WCAG states that it is likely not possible to
conform to all AAA guidelines).
● Businesses do not have to comply to all listed criteria to meet
conformance, only those that apply to their website and audience.

26. WCAG 2.0 Guideline
Level AA
● Captions provided for audio content
● Transcripts provided for video content
● Content headings and labels are descriptive of topic or
purpose
● Ability for the user to resize text up to 200 percent
● Navigation features are consistent

27. KEY TAKEAWAY
“Accessibility overlaps with other best practices
such as mobile web design, device
independence, multimodal interaction,
usability, design for older users, and search
engine optimization (SEO).”

28. Best Practices for
Accessible Content
● Do not rely on color as a navigational tool or as the sole way
to differentiate items
● Images should include Alt text in the markup/code; complex
images should have more extensive descriptions near the
image
● Functionality should be accessible through mouse and
keyboard and be tagged to worked with voice-control
systems
● Provide transcripts for podcasts
● If you have a video on your site, you must provide visual
access to the audio information through in-sync captioning
● Sites should have a skip navigation feature

29. Q&A
© SilverTech, Inc. 2018
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30. KEY TAKEAWAY
“By making your website accessible, you are ensuring that all of
your potential users, including people with disabilities, have a
decent user experience and are able to easily access your
information. By implementing accessibility best practices, you
are also improving the usability of the site for all users.”
usability.gov

31. Accessibility Automation
○Tools do exist to scan a site automatically. However, machines cannot
always evaluate and isolate what the issue is, so a user is still required
to look at the issue and determine the solution
○Even if you have a heuristic tool that will evaluate compliance
automatically – we must assess sites manually.
Having a person to review and apply WCAG instead of using a scanning tool is
best and at times necessary.
1. Better understand the context of an issue
2. Assess whether it truly is a problem
3. Consider alternate solutions
4. Manually test issues that cannot be automated

33. Accessibility Automation
○Tools: Siteimprove Accessibility Checker, HTML Codesniffer, WAVE
evaluation tool, AXE Accessibility… and more – have to check every
page/template, whereas full tools will scan whole site
○Built-in tools in photoshop
○Glasses & gloves

34. SOURCES
Slide 8: https://adata.org/learn-about-ada “What is the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)?”
Slide 9: https://www.ada.gov/regs2016/final_rule_adaaa.html “ADA Amendments Act Final Rule”
Slide 11: https://adata.org/learn-about-ada “What is the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)?”
Slide 12: http://www.reginfo.gov/public/jsp/eAgenda/StaticContent/201510/Statement_1100.html “Department of Justice (DOJ) - Fall 2015”
Slide 13: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_508_Amendment_to_the_Rehabilitation_Act_of_1973 “Section 508 Amendment to the Rehabilitation
Act of 1973”
Slide 16: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Federation_of_the_Blind_v._Target_Corp. National Federation of the Blind v. Target Corp.
Slide 17: http://smallbusiness.jdsupra.com/post/tag/natl-assn-of-the-deaf-v-netflix “Does the ADA Apply to Netflix? Court Says Yes”
Slide 18: http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-peapod-justice-settlement-1119-biz-20141118-story.html Peapod settles charges over website
access for disabled customers
Slide 21: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Wide_Web_Consortium World Wide Web Consortium
Slide 22: https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/ Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2..0
Slide 26: https://www.w3.org/TR/UNDERSTANDING-WCAG20/ Understanding WCAG 2.0
Further articles for reference:
Wuhcag. https://www.wuhcag.com/ “Web accessibility for developers”
VIEO Design https://www.vieodesign.com/blog/what-is-ada-website-compliance “What is ADA Website Compliance?
Financial Brand https://thefinancialbrand.com/55509/ada-compliance-for-banking-websites/
Interactive Accessibility https://www.interactiveaccessibility.com/ada